Re: First time installation - need advice
From: Jeff Gaines (whitedragon101_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 12/01/04
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Date: 1 Dec 2004 23:59:36 GMT
On 01/12/2004 Elmo Watson wrote:
> I'm replacing my old HD with a new WD 250 Gb Hard drive
>
> before, I've only had a 40 Gb with Win2k Pro
>
> Now, I'm going to install WinXP Pro for the first time and need some
> advice.
>
> I had heard, in the past, with large hard drives, that I should
> create a partition with just the OS on it - then install everything
> else on a second (or other) partition.
> The flaw in this, as I can see it, is that, when you install an
> application - the DLLs get installed in the System32 directory anyway
> - so no matter what, if something happens to the OS partition - it
> all gets hosed anyway.
>
> So - - I'm seeking advice on the most efficient way to set this system
> up --- (for once, I'm asking BEFORE I'm actually doing it)
>
>
> Any ideas here?
Well you will probably get thousands of suggestions and they will all
be 'right' for somebody :-)
I like to keep all my data and 'well behaved' apps separate from the OS
so I set up a primary partition of about 16GB to 20GB for the OS and
then an extended partition for the rest of the HD. This extended
partition could also be sub divided into logical drives.
The logical drive(s) contain all my data, my 'well behaved' apps and a
folder called '_DRIVERS' which contains up to date drivers for all my
H/W. Each sub folder of '_DRIVERS' is numbered so it looks like:
00_Graphics and Cursor
01_Mobo drivers
02_DX9 Upgrade
03_Graphics Drivers
etc.
So it pretty well behaves like a script for the re-install.
'Well behaved' apps are those that don't need the registry to run or
are intelligent enough to write their own registry data the first time
they are run on a newly installed system. There's a surprising number
of these from small utilities to things like Flight Simulator and, in
my case, both my mail and news apps.
My logic for doing this is:
I write programs for a hobby and I can *REALLY* mess up the OS when I
get it wrong so I tend to need to re-install quite regularly.
I can easily back up my 'AppsData' drive regularly to a second PC and
to an external HD.
When I re-install, 80% of the apps I need are immediately available for
use without the need for them to be re-installed and all my data is
safe.
Having re-read this I suspect reason 4 is that I am a complete nerd and
not a 'typical' user, if there is such a thing.
Do check that your BIOS can support a drive >137GB before you start, as
long as the BIOS supports it then you will need XP SP1 as a minimum to
ensure XP recognises it. If you haven't got SP1 slipstreamed on to your
XP CD then don't wander away from the PC while installing just in case
XP tries to run CHKDSK - if it does then press a key to stop it, come
back on that point if you need to.
-- Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK
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